SONY Music Entertainment chief Tommy Mottola has sold one of his two country estates in Westchester County to advertising giant Peter Arnell.

Sources say the low-profile deal between the high-profile friends was inked without the listing broker for the 49-acre spread on Mount Holly Road in Katonah for $17.5 million. Arnell then paid an extra million bucks for the fancy furnishings.

“It has the feel of a fancy Adirondack camp,” describes a Bedford broker, “It’s very masculine and tastefully done.”

The property, which had an asking price of $19.95 million when it first went on the market in June 2000, includes a renovated 12,000 square foot Tudor-style manor, large guest house, pool, tennis court, stables and indoor riding facility.

Mottola has another country compound in the area, with its own recording studio, that he shares with his stunning new bride, actress and singer, Thalia.

Rumors of a sale last summer were somewhat premature when a man claiming to be a rap impresario showed up with two burly bodyguards in tow and agreed to pay the asking price. The real estate broker, much to her chagrin, soon learned the crook would not be ponying up the $2 million down payment after he was thrown in the pokey for parole violations and charges of fraud.

Although he’s been a fixture in SoHo for years – that’s where he works and lives – Arnell and his wife Sara have pulled their kids out of school and headed to the bucolic countryside.

Arnell’s new digs are not far from the Bedford manse Mottola and then-wife Mariah Carey constructed in 1995. The 22,000-square-foot home on 55 acres was impressively built – not unlike Mariah – with a ballroom, recording studio, pistol range and two pools.

After Mottola’s split with the flighty songbird, the house was sold to takeover specialist Nelson Peltz in 1997 (again, without the listing broker) for approximately $20.5 million. The nine-bedroom dwelling later burned to the ground due to faulty wiring – not unlike Mariah.

Mottola had no comment on the deal.

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Palm Beach fixture and bankrupt healthcare magnate Abe Gosman is trying to stay one step ahead of his creditors. Lawyers allege the 72-year-old ex-mogul, who Forbes magazine estimated to be worth $480 million in 1996, transferred part-ownership of his 65,000 square-foot oceanfront mansion – one of the largest in the tony town – to wife Linda once his empire began to crumble.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Gosman filed for bankruptcy reorganization last March, listing assets of $250 million and liabilities of $233. 6 million. Florida bankruptcy laws protect property owned by married couples as long as creditors have no judgments against one of the spouses.